05282019 Sara Bopp Joins Knots Rugs London to Build International Wholesale Business By Carol Tisch

SARA BOPP JOINS KNOTS RUGS LONDON TO BUILD INTERNATIONAL WHOLESALE BUSINESS

At ICFF, Sara Bopp poses on 'At the End of the Day', a rug designed by artist George Morton Clark for the 'Your Floor is the Canvas' collection by Knots Rugs. Photographed at the Rug & Kilim stand.

NEW YORK -- After establishing a foothold in theU.S. wholesale showroom market, luxury carpet company Knots Rugs London has its sights on growing that business internationally.

RugNews.com discussed the strategy with Sara Bopp, internationalwholesale sales executive for Knots Rugs, at the Rug & Kilim booth at last week's ICFF show, where the UK brand's rugs were on display, and Rug & Kilim's founder Josh Nazmiyal said Knots was the only outside brand he carries.

"We officially 'tied the knot' with the U.S. market on February 14 by announcing our launch with Valentine's Day cards sent to wholesale showrooms across the country," Bopp explained, adding that Knots Rugs is privately growing other markets as well. "Based on response, we are targeting dealers inCanada, Dubai, Germany and Russia. We are trying to expand in a truly international level and getting our name out and products out there. We have a unique style; we're finding that every market has a place for our designs and quality." And, she noted, that as the company continues to penetrate the U.S. Market, the range is being subtly adjusted for U.S. tastes with the addition of more neutrals to work alongside the existing designs.

Bopp, who most recently worked in designer sales for Lapchi and Stark in Chicago, says she met Bonnie Sutton, a Knots Rugs principal, at Domotex in Hannover several years ago." I walked into her stand at Domotex, and asked Bonnie to tell me about her rugs --they were incredible."

A graduate of the interior architecture program at the University of Missouri, Bopp started her own consulting company, London House Designs, over year ago, and said she had been working with Sutton many months on the wholesale program prior to the February 2019 launch.

At the End of the Day by George Morton Clark for Knots Rugs' Your Floor is the Canvas collection is hand-knotted in Nepal of Tibetan wool and Chinese silk.